Never one to shy away from an opinion, Randy Ferbey didn't hold back on the latest controversy in the Northern Alberta Curling Association men's playdown.

The veteran skip, who's been known to bend the odd rule himself, blasted fellow Saville Centre skip Rob Krepps for bringing in veteran James Pahl as a substitute to throw skip stones at the Boston Pizza men's playdown, which began Friday at the Leduc Curling Club.

Pahl got the call from Krepps to fill in for lead Kelly Mauthe, who is out of town for a work commitment, after losing out in the recent zone playdowns.

The move to bring in a skip to replace a lead drew the ire of several competitors in the 16-team competitors, none more so than Ferbey, who score six in the seventh end to trounce Krepps 9-3 in the A Event semifinal on Friday night.

"James Pahl. What's he doing out there? The rules say he can play, so I guess I have to be happy with that," Ferbey said sarcastically.

"Quite frankly, that rule is totally ridiculous. I don't think there's a person in the building that thinks it's a good rule. I know it's in the rule book, but it's not the intent of curling," said the skip, who has called the shots for Newfoundland's Brad Gushue on the World Curling Tour this season.

Ferbey also answered former teammate Dave Nedohin's call to enter a team in the playdowns.

"Ethically or morally, it's wrong. You're eliminated from playdowns and you come back the next week and you're skipping a team? Oh my God. How can you even step on the ice?" Ferbey said before facing Krepps.

"If you're injured, it's a little different, but let's be honest, there's not many injuries in curling. Over the last 20 years, how many injuries have there been where a curler has to actually miss a competition? But then, their lead is out and he picks up a skip to skip?"

Krepps, who is also a member of the

Canadian Curling Association coaching staff and manager of curling at the Saville Centre at the University of Alberta, did not break any rules or take advantage of any sudden loopholes. The substitution rule has been in place for years.

"Come on. James Pahl did not win this thing (a playdowns spot), Rob Krepps did," Ferbey said, continuing his rant. "At the end of the day, it's probably not going to matter a whole bunch, but it's not the right thing to do.

"I don't know how the NACA can look at that rule and say, 'It's OK.' Like, get your heads out of your (backsides). It's wrong. Ask any curler in this building and they would agree with me. You're eliminated."

Actually, fellow Saville skip Wade White, who lost an A Event quarterfinal 9-6 in extra ends to Krepps, didn't side with Ferbey.

"That didn't really bother me. I don't even know what the rules are anymore. I probably did something bad 20 years ago," White said with a chuckle. "It doesn't bother me. If it's allowed, it's allowed."

But White's brother, George, the lead on the team, wasn't exactly enamoured with it.

"Ask James why he gets two chances in zones," he said after coming off the ice following the loss to Krepps. "No, ask Rob."

Krepps answered the tough questions on the substitution rule.

"It was certainly our intention when we started the playdowns to play with the team we signed up with. Unfortunately, some work circumstances make that impossible," Krepps said.

"Kelly Mauthe is at a business conference in Washington, D.C., and (second) Eric Richard just took a new job as a teacher, so if we were somehow fortunate enough to get through this, he couldn't play in provincials, so we absolutely had to have a player.

"I certainly checked into what the rules were, who you could add. James was available. He's a really good player and really good guy and I felt he would fit in really well. I approached him and was really pleased that he said he would join us."

Asked about Ferbey's comments, Krepps replied, "Those kinds of things don't really bother me. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. Prior to any game that anybody plays in competition you can change the order of your team. All we did was bring in the guy that wanted to play and decided how we would line up after that."

Meanwhile, on the ice, Ferbey had 8-6 and 7-4 victories over Lacombe's Lee Hodgson and Dale Swyripa of Wainwright, respectively, on Friday. Krepps defeated Spruce Grove's Les Steuber 7-3 in the morning draw.

No. 1 seed Tom Appelman's Saville Centre crew cruised through all three outings Friday, winning 9-1 in four ends over Matt Yeo of Gibbons, 12-4 over Barry Chwedoruk of Lac La Biche and 7-3 in eight ends over Lloydminster's Warren Hassall in the other A Event semifinal.

Hassall, who has had Jamie King skipping but throwing third stones all season, dumped Justin Jacobsen 5-3 and defeated Dave Stewart of Ponoka 8-5 in his first two outings.

The A final goes at 10 a.m. Saturday to determine the first of three qualifiers for the provincial championship, Feb. 9-13 at High River.

The B final is set for 7 p.m.